Selective removal of atrazine (ATZ) in aquatic system has attracted more and more attention because ATZ will remain even after biological treatment, showing highly toxicity. A newly molecular imprinting highly exposed {001} facets TiO2 (MI-001-TiO2) photoelectroanode was designed. ATZ was selectivly removed from pesticide wastewater (chemical oxygen demand = 25.9 mg O2 L-1) at 0.6 V with the reduction of cytotoxicity, acute and chronic toxicity. The final concentration of ATZ after the photoelectrochemical treatment was 2.1 μg L-1, meeting the drinking water standard for ATZ. 2-hydroxyl-4,6-diamino-s-triazine plays a key role in the detoxification of cytotoxicity, and the pathway through 2-hydroxyl-4-ethylamino-6-amino-s-triazine is the only way to continuously reduce acute and chronic toxicity. The selective photoelectrochemical strategy originated from the preferential adsorption and enrichment of ATZ on MI-001-TiO2, which confirmed by competitive adsorption results. The possible recognition mechanism was investigated by operando attenuated total reflection Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and UV-vis spectroscopy, which mainly relied on the halogen bond and strong hydrogen bond, which formed between the π bond of the triazine ring and the -OH group on the surface of TiO2. This interesting strategy may provide some new insight on the selective removal of highly toxic pollutants in complex aquatic systems.

Photoelectrochemical strategy for selective removal of atrazine in wastewater

ACS Spring Meeting 2021

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.